Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-06-29

a shrek OF agony anu cafne down WITH a
splash into tho river.
And then followed scene the horrors Oh
which battles my poor pen. Overhead inc
storm burst IN fury, and fash after hasn Oh
fork or rather Of chain, lightning fell into
the river. The thunder, too, began to crack
like the trump of doom; the wind rushed
down, tearing the surface Of the water into
foam, and catching under the tent OF the
cart, lifted it clean Off the wheels, so that IL
began to float Then Ethe two leaders, mad
with fear by the fury of the storm and the
dying struggles Of the off wheeler, plunged
and tore at the traces till they actually rent
themselves loose and vanished between the
darkness overhead and the boiling water be-
meath. Away foated the cart, now touching
the bottom and now riding on the water IKE
boat, oscillating this way and that, and
slowly turning round and round. With it
foated the dead horse, dragging down the
other wheeler beneath the water. 1t was aw-
full to see his struggles in the glare OF the
lightning, but at last he sank and chokeds
And meanwhile, sounding sharp.and clear
across the din and hubbub Of the storm, came
the cracking Of the three rifles whenever the
flashes showed the whereabouts OF the cart to
the murdcrers on the bank. Mouti was lying
still in the bottom on the bed plank, bullet
between his broad shoulders and another in
his skull; but John felt that his life was yet
whole in him, though something had hissed
past his face and stung it. Instinctively he
reached across the cart and drew jess on to
his knee, and covered over her, thinking
dimly that perhaps his body would protect
her from the bullets.
Rip! rip! through the wood and canvas;
phut! phut! through tho cir; but some mer'
ciful power protected them, and though one
cut Johns coat and two passed through the
skirt of Jess dress, not bullet struck them
And very soon the shooting began to grow
wild, and then that dense vail OF rain came
down and wrapped them so close that even the
lightning could not show their whereabouts
to the assassins on the bank.
"Stop shooting" said Frank Muller; athe
cart has sunk, and there is an end OF them.
No human being can have lived through that
fire and the Vaal in food"
The two Beers ceased firing, and the Uni
corn shook his head softly and remarked to
his companion that the damned English peo-
pie in the water could not be much wetter
than they were on tie bank. 1t was a curl.
ous thing to say at such a moment, but prob
ably the spirit that animated the remark was
not so much callousness as that which AMI
mated Cromwell, who tipped the ink In his
neighbours face when he signed the death
warrant of his king.
Muller was also thinking Of the warrant
which he had forged. He must get 1t back
somehow, even if ''-1 q I
"Let us take shelter under the bank there
There is fiat place, about fifty yards up,
where the bank lies over. This rain Is
drowning u.s. We can't upsaddle till 1t
clears l must have nip OF brandy, too.
Almighty! I can see that girls face now!
the lightning shone on it just as shot. Well,
she will be in heaven now, poor thing, If
English people ever go to heaven"
1t was the Unicorn who spoke, and the
Vilderbeeste made no reply, but advanced
with him to where the horses stood. They
took the patient brrtes that were waiting for
their masters, thei:. heads well down and the
water streaming from them, and led them
along with them. Frank Muller stood by his
own horse thinking, and watched them
vanish into the gloom. How was he to get
that warrant back without dyeing his hands
even redder than they were9
As he thought, an answer came. For at
that moment, accompanied by fearful
thunderclap, there shot from the storm over
head, which had now nearly passed away,
one Of those awful flashes that sometimes end
an African tempest. 1t Lit up the whole
scene round as light as day, and right In the
white heart of it Muller saw his two COM
panions In crime and their horses as the great
king saw the men in the furnace. They were
about forty PAGES from him, on the crest OF
the bank. He saw them, one moment erect;
the ne1t-men and horses falling this way
and that, prone to the earth. And then it
was all dark again. He staggered with the
shock, and when it had passed rushed to the
spot, calling the men by name; hut no an
swer came, except the echo Of his voice. he
was there now, and the moonlight began to
struggle family through the rain. Its pale
beams lit upon two outstretched forms-one
lying on its back, its distorted features gazing
up to heaven, the other on its face. By them,
the legs Of the nearest sticking straight into
the air, lay the two horses They had gone
to their account. The lightning had killed
them, as it kills many an innocent man In
Africa,
Frank Muller looked; and then, forgetting
about the warrant and everything else in the
horror Of what he took to be a visible judg-
ment, rushed to his horse and galloped wildly
away, pursued by all the terrors Of hell.